Olympia, Washington, 1/10/12 — Occupiers from across the country will converge at the first national Occupy Movement gathering in Olympia this February. Occupy Olympia (WA) and the Alliance for Global Justice (fiscal sponsor of a number of Occupies, including DC and Wall Street) are hosting an Occupy Solidarity Social Forum on February 18-19 in the Washington state capital city. The self-organized, social forum-type gathering is open to all occupiers and allies.

Occupy Olympia agreed by consensus at General Assembly to host a self-organized gathering of the Occupy Wall Street Movement to network, build unity, share tactics, workshop strategies, discuss diversity and discuss how to develop action plans. Occupiers from Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Washington, DC, Occupy Tucson, and Occupy Terra Haute (IN) are among the first registrants for the event.

The Occupy Solidarity Social Forum will be the first of what is expected to be a series of networking and visioning gatherings for the Occupy Movement over the next several months. Occupy Washington, DC is also calling for occupiers to gather in Washington, DC on March 30, 2012 under the banner NOWDC.

The networking meeting is being called in recognition that the movement will gain strength if we help open space for sharing, discussion and development. It is also agreed that the sooner we create that space the better for the movement and that a quick first effort will champion strong gains and garner authentic self organization. Together, Occupy Olympia and the Alliance for Global Justice will create the space for a wide diversity of occupy movement members to bring their knowledge and skills to the table to share in authentic ways with each other for the goal of growing the strength of the movement.

Registration will be required, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Individuals can register at http://occupyolympia.org/ossf-2012/. Participants should come prepared for tent camping or sleeping on church basement floors. Subject to funding availability, travel subsidies will be offered for participants from existing Occupations. Contributions to the travel fund can be made at: http://afgj.org/?page_id=1777.

ChuckKaufman, nationalco-coordinator of the Alliance for Global Justice, said, "Our interest is to create a space where the many local Occupations can network and share problems and solutions, begin to know each other and figure out how to support each other. There is no other agenda. It will be up to the Occupiers themselves to seize this opportunity and turn it into a Movement Building experience."

Bruce Wilkinson, an Occupy Olympia organizer, touted Washington State's mild winter climate. He said, "Occupy Olympia is excited about this opportunity to host the first of what will probably be many national gatherings of Occupiers as we struggle together to build a democratic movement that will challenge the greed of the 1% and build justice and equality for the 99%."